Three From Five?

Three From A few weeks ago everyone was talking about the battle for fourth.

Conventional wisdom was that the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea were clear with us fighting Arsenal and Everton for fourth (Liverpool fans will of course argue they are still in with a shout).

Then Chelsea wobbled and suddenly it went from one from three to two from four as third became a possibility. Following City's capitulation at Southampton I am now wondering whether its becoming three from five.

City are still five points clear of us, four ahead of Chelsea, but the title has gone. I have to wonder what effect that will have on them for the rest of the season.

From our perspective the situation is clear. Whether we finish second or fourth is not that important, only the Champions league place really matters.

We are in a fight thats for sure.. as long as we can keep wining we will get 3rd. but i fear the goal difference wil eventually do us in...we will suffer for not wining games higher scores than we should have.

agree, if we are saying the goons are a threat and they are 4 behind us, then we really should be looking upwards at 2nd as a realistic possibility, we are 5 behind city. they play chelsea next weekend, so if we beat the hammers we will gain on one or both of them. if we win and they draw we will be 1 ahead of chelsea and three off city. its going to the wire and it will be unbearably tense again.

well next up for city is Chelski so that would have a bearing on the points difference between us and city and chelski and we have west ham away so theoritically its a 6 pointer for us other than that Citeh still have Man Utd and then they have us at the Lane so we could get above them

Chelski's run looks better apart from Citeh and Manure away they have us at the bridge .........Southampton and Liverpool away for the Blues could also put a spanner in the works so at the moment 3 from 5 might be on

March is crunch month with Scum at home and then Liverpool away ,Fulham at home should be dead rubber but Swanea away might be a banana skin. April will decide our fate though, with Chelski at the Bridge and Citeh at home.......if we are still in 4th or 3rd in April we must be be in with a really good shout..at Chelski cant win the CL this season!

Since we get to play all of our rivals for the the 2 or 3 places in the top four, our destiny is very much in our own hands.
It will be interesting to see what kind of effect being well and truly out of the title race. Will they simply implode, will they focus on the FA Cup to the detriment of the league? Wishful thinking, but not beyond the bounds of belief.
The injury to Wilshere, as much as it's a shame for England, comes at a great time.
I don't know what to make of Chelsea, apart from my long held belief that Benitez doesn't really have a clue, appears to be truer than ever. A draw between the Blues and the Sky Blues with lots of injuries on both sides, would be very nice indeed.
My money, ten pounds sterling of it, in fact, is on us nicking third. COYS.

Our remaining fixtures are tough, but remember, Arsenal, City and Everton all have to come to the Lane. A few wobbles from our rivals and we could suprise ourselves and finish 2nd! Farfetched I realise, but as long as we're focused on catching those in front of us we'll be harder to catch for those behind us. But hey OyVeh, don't count those champions league chickens. Chelski can't win it but le scum could... We just have to keep winning. COYS!

I'm sure we can all remember in 2010 we went on a run at the end of the season that saw us beat Chelsea, Arsenal and City. That got us a champions league spot. If we keep tough to beat we'll be very hard to overtake.

We have the hardest run in compared to the other top 4 contenders, so we can't afford any slip ups in games against the lesser teams, we have Arsenal (H) and Liverpool (A) in March, and Everton (H), Chelsea (A), and Man City (H) all in April. Whilst on the subject, although he is far from one of my favourite people, due respect to SAF, for the side he has picked v Everton, he could have put a stiffs side out, with a 9 point lead and Real to play on Wednesday, but he has played it fair and up until now (2-0 up at HT) it is paying off. Incidently I don't agree that it doesn't matter whether we finish 3rd or 4th. 3rd or better guarantees an entry into the group stage of the CL without a potential banana skin in a qualifier. As Everton found out these are not a forgone conclusion.

It seems that Manure has the title unless they collapse, which SAF is unlikely to allow. Spurs have a reasonable opportunity to end the season as high as second, and neither Chelsea nor Man City seem anything approaching steady. But let's not forget this fact: in the two matches between Spurs and Manure, Spurs gained four points and Manure only one. We have been as good as any team in the EPL this season, and we should be extremely proud of the team AVB has been managing this season and of our players. (And, I suppose we should recognize, the team that DL, AVB, and ENIC have put together.) Perfect no, but as good as anyone has been.

The Toffies seem to be fading, although this assessment could be premature. Ideally, Spurs and Everett both would make the top four, and in a perfect world neither Chelskum nor Farce 'n All would make the CL, but I suppose one of them must. I find myself recently disliking Chelskum even more than I do Skum, I suppose because of their capitalist gangster ownership. But I would love to the gods to find us ending up ahead of both of them and of City too. I could live happily with Everett in second and us third, but I see Everett ending fifth or sixth, Godstruth.

Why not dream a little? But of course it won't happen cause there's a conspiracy being headed up by ENIC, Levy and don't forget Aaron Lennon to destroy us utterly! (Did I miss anyone?) Oh yes Dempsey and Ade, this weeks villians................. Great article and thanks for the ray of sunshine Jod.

The day Manchester City realizes they cannot even dream about catching United, they will implode. Maybe we won´t hear the whole sound of it, but in their backstage, Mancini will be like a dead man walking even if he wins FA Cup (has anyone seen his face yesterday when Barry scored the silliest own goal I´ve seen ??) and without a steady commander players will be considering their options. Add financial fair play and Bang !!! City collapses. Maybe it won´t be Chelsea case. I guess they are playing this money-buys-throphies far too long than City and probably know how to survive. Benitez won´t be their manager next season. Again, void in the high command might do us a favour. Arsenal is the surprise package to me. Hard to be written off and always getting results here and there, like they did last saturday. As for Tottenham Hotspur, I honestly don´t fear City at the Lane as I fear Arsenal. Last two matches against City we were near a win or a decent draw. Key matches are 4: Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Stoke. Swansea also hard. AVB´s squad rotation will pay dividends come April. I bet we will have the best fitness levels of the league then.

There are no easy games. Not for us, not for the others in the top 7. The teams at the top can't afford to lose and those at the bottom can't afford to lose. Villa look better of late. QPR will take games. West Ham will. Southampton have been looking good. Wigan is never easy. Fact is, we just need to take care of business ourselves. Chelsea have a trip to Prague and then the FA Cup. City have nothing left to play for and lots of well paid players who can't get game time. We should be looking to get 2nd. Prepare for every game like it's a Cup final and we'll be fine. WBA to get a draw with Pool tomorrow, win at home against Arsenal and Everton and really there should be no issue getting 4th. I figure 7 more wins will do it. COYS

Adebayor from the lane, steps on the pitch and changes the game. Great win and vital points imo. It's still very open though, not sure what’s happening to Man City but they will be upset with their loss. The way i see it anyone 8th upwards can still finnish in the qualification positions for the CL. We need to focus and keep up the results. COYS.